The disposal of waste materials containing inorganic chemicals cannot be effected by incineration as is the situation with typical organic waste materials. Typical organic waste material when burned yield gaseous products which can be safely disposed of in accordance with environmental regulations. To the contrary, inorganic materials having toxic components when burned can still yield toxic products which are in some soluble form which make them conducive to polluting the environment, and also ending up in the water supplies.
Thus, there is an immediate need for an effective method of removing the insoluble inorganic salts from waste materials such as sewage sludge.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a method for removing insoluble inorganic salts from waste materials by converting them to a soluble form which can be recovered and recycled or which can be safely disposed of without contaminating the environment.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method which converts insoluble inorganic salts into highly soluble acidic products which are soluble in aqueous and selected organic systems.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a method which converts waste portions of inorganic material to a neutralized form which is subsequently converted to a solid form which can be buried safely without concern of contaminating the environment.